Another book review

Right now I’m in a time of slower reflection. Life has slowed incredibly because all our “extra” family has left and it’s just my two and myself around here these days. In addition, my son’s being able to drive them to their classes has freed up time I’m not waiting in the car. I now stay home for chunks of hours – multiple days a week…it’s been so long, and it’s such balm to my heart and soul to be home, to be quiet. I’ve been able to catch up on so many things I just couldn’t find mental, emotional, or spiritual space for – filing, organizing, projects, and reading lots. I’ve even started taxes (it’s only early February!! I’m just waiting on paperwork to come in the mail – something I can’t control :-D). All of this on top of work and homeschooling – whoohoo! :-D

I read for hours today.

Absolutely blissful!

For years I have purposed to rest on Sunday’s (or at least once a week), but with two teenagers and their schedules – my way of resting has had to look different the last couple years. The last two months this has been changing “back” to the way I like it :-D…

Just so you know: I’m not “legalistic” about not working on Sundays – if I want to do laundry, I do it. But if it feels like a chore that day, then I don’t. Some weeks I’ll cook in advance for the week. Most weeks – nope. Sometimes resting is to clean. Most weeks I try hard to do it on Saturday. If it doesn’t get done on Saturday & feels like a chore on Sunday, it waits for Monday.

During campaign season I started to “let” myself do design work on Sunday’s because I enjoy it so much it doesn’t feel like work/a chore, but it was becoming an inability on my part to just set “being productive” aside to rest. All of this is to say, Sunday days of rest + chunks of hours at home + a whole lot less activity = I’m beginning to feel not so drained. I’m feeling optimistic I’ll start to blog more consistently :-D. (I actually have four draft posts waiting to be finished) My thoughts are starting to actually line up and still be coherent at the end of the line :-D.

So, on to the book review… Where Rivers Part: A Texas Gold Novel was the first book I’ve read by Kellie Coates Gilbert, and I will definitely be reading more! The story was immediately captivating and has some seriously unexpected twists, teaching us in story version that without heart & soul – we have nothing.

The main character, Dr. Juliet Ryan, has many struggles and has to work out her faith from a position of brokenness she couldn’t even begin to imagine. There are some extremely hard, heart-breaking moments (won’t lie, I shed a few tears), but the goodness of our God is weaved through the story in a beautiful way. On the back cover there is an accurate imagery of this story, “mighty river with twists and turns and hidden rocks”. It felt evident throughout the story the author had experience with what she was writing about, I was not surprised to learn at the end she had actually worked on the events of the mid-90s Jack-In-The-Box devastation. I basically devoured this book.

Once again, I didn’t know in advance this was book #2 in a series (it has a pretty cover [sheepish grin]. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good cover?), but I’m guessing the books stand alone because I never once felt lost, or as if I’d missed something in the story. I don’t have a reason to think I wouldn’t read book #1, given the option, and I look forward to reading book #3 and more by this author.

* This book was provided by Revell Publishing in exchange for my honest review.*

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